The Money Thread...

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poshrule_uk
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PostRe: The Money Thread...
by poshrule_uk » Wed Jan 26, 2022 9:53 am

My pension is currently £4k down from end of 2021.
My stocks and shares ISA is also down.

All about the long game.

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Grumpy David
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PostRe: The Money Thread...
by Grumpy David » Wed Jan 26, 2022 10:56 am

Can't remember the exact monetary drop but my ISA has gone from being 80% up to about 55% up lifetime to date.

Seems like most of the big tech stocks have taken a beating (and pseudo tech stocks like Peloton) and stocks that benefit from WFH ending have recovered.

Ste
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PostRe: The Money Thread...
by Ste » Wed Jan 26, 2022 1:22 pm

Any Energy price experts on here?

My fixed tariff is due to end on 28th Feb. It cost me £1000 for the prior 12 months.

The new fixed tariff I have been offered will cost £2067.72.

At the moment the variable tariff would cost £1299.12.

I know the cap is increasing in Feb and taking effect from April. I'm not sure whether the cap is going to go up that much that it's worth committing to a new fixed tariff, with such an increase, now rather than just wait and see what the cap is increased to. Any thoughts?

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GrinWithoutaKat
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PostRe: The Money Thread...
by GrinWithoutaKat » Thu Jan 27, 2022 1:41 pm

Ste wrote:Any Energy price experts on here?

My fixed tariff is due to end on 28th Feb. It cost me £1000 for the prior 12 months.

The new fixed tariff I have been offered will cost £2067.72.

At the moment the variable tariff would cost £1299.12.

I know the cap is increasing in Feb and taking effect from April. I'm not sure whether the cap is going to go up that much that it's worth committing to a new fixed tariff, with such an increase, now rather than just wait and see what the cap is increased to. Any thoughts?


Same situation here. £800 the last 12 months, next cheapest 12 month deal is £1500, while the variable tariff would be £1000. With most people estimating the cap will be raised at least 50%, it seems like going on that double priced fixed deal might make sense, but I'm not sure. I guess the moment the cap is raised, the 12 month fixed deals will all shoot up too?

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Drumstick
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PostRe: The Money Thread...
by Drumstick » Thu Jan 27, 2022 2:34 pm

It's absolutely outrageous.

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Ste
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PostRe: The Money Thread...
by Ste » Thu Jan 27, 2022 2:56 pm

For me the dilemma is:

If I go on the fixed now I'm committing to paying double. (and for March it will certainly be cheaper to be on the variable)

So it seems better to wait and see what happens because if it's not as bad as what is anticipated (and with all the press it's getting recently I'm hoping it's not) then the variable and therefore the fixed tariffs afterwards will still be marginally better and even if it's not, the potential saving by not signing up now outweighs the risk/difference that I might end up paying.

Cue April and I'll be paying £3000 :fp:

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Grumpy David
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PostRe: The Money Thread...
by Grumpy David » Thu Jan 27, 2022 3:24 pm

I thought I was getting screwed in October when my electricity and gas bill was set to almost double from £40 to £76 per month and was only available as a 3 year fixed rate.

Now it actually seems comparatively good especially with the length of the fixed tariff.

I suppose whether to fix now or risk fixing later depends on "Can you afford to be wrong?".

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Clarkman
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PostRe: The Money Thread...
by Clarkman » Thu Jan 27, 2022 4:31 pm

This thread has prompted me to check mine and my fixed term ends in March :x

EDF's current best offer on a fixed tariff for Gas & Electricity would see my prices almost triple.

This is going to dominate the news cycle for the people it catches unaware.

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Drumstick
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PostRe: The Money Thread...
by Drumstick » Thu Jan 27, 2022 4:34 pm

It really requires government intervention which doesn't appear to be coming.

CON -10

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Clarkman
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PostRe: The Money Thread...
by Clarkman » Thu Feb 03, 2022 1:22 pm

If anybody has had the letter from Virgin Media about broadband price increase (£3.25 increase per month for us), I just did a 4 minute phone call to them and asked for it to be removed and they removed the increase no questions asked. Well worth doing.

poshrule_uk
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PostRe: The Money Thread...
by poshrule_uk » Thu Feb 03, 2022 2:04 pm

Just done the Santander switch today from my Barclays for £140.

I only had the Barclays account set up for the monthly blue rewards set up with 2 credit cards direct debits but that is finishing soon.

I'll keep the Santander until another switch comes up.

poshrule_uk
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PostRe: The Money Thread...
by poshrule_uk » Mon Mar 28, 2022 1:36 pm

Chase Bank are offering 1.5% easy access savings accounts which appears to be the best place in the market for your case and even beats Marcus at 0.70%.

You need to have the current account which I have just opened via the app and then you can open up-to 10 pots which I have just done for all the different things I save up for.
I have no intention of using the current account as my main bank account but at least I will earn a little something for my various bits rather than zero like I was previously.

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Dual
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PostRe: The Money Thread...
by Dual » Mon Mar 28, 2022 1:50 pm

You should use them for your daily spending as well. They've got a good cashback offer on.

poshrule_uk
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PostRe: The Money Thread...
by poshrule_uk » Mon Mar 28, 2022 1:58 pm

I have seen that, I do tend to use the Natwest Reward credit card but this pays more.

Once I get my card end of the week I will probably start using it but it will be a bit more of a pain as I will need to manually top the account up

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Dual
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PostRe: The Money Thread...
by Dual » Mon Mar 28, 2022 2:05 pm

poshrule_uk wrote:I have seen that, I do tend to use the Natwest Reward credit card but this pays more.

Once I get my card end of the week I will probably start using it but it will be a bit more of a pain as I will need to manually top the account up


I just use it as a cash card. Put £xxx on at the start of the month and top up as and when.

poshrule_uk
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PostRe: The Money Thread...
by poshrule_uk » Mon Mar 28, 2022 2:08 pm

Dual wrote:
poshrule_uk wrote:I have seen that, I do tend to use the Natwest Reward credit card but this pays more.

Once I get my card end of the week I will probably start using it but it will be a bit more of a pain as I will need to manually top the account up


I just use it as a cash card. Put £xxx on at the start of the month and top up as and when.


Yeah I probably will TBH, I have made a note on my Google Keep Notes of when the cashback ends. May as well get paid extra for spending money. It's silly to pass up on really and this offer won't be around for ever.

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Memento Mori
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PostRe: The Money Thread...
by Memento Mori » Mon Mar 28, 2022 3:51 pm

Clarkman wrote:This thread has prompted me to check mine and my fixed term ends in March :x

EDF's current best offer on a fixed tariff for Gas & Electricity would see my prices almost triple.

This is going to dominate the news cycle for the people it catches unaware.

Exactly the same for me! I either triple my price by going to a 1 year fixed term or go for a 1 year variable which is at the moment 60% higher that what I pay now. And this doesn't even include the Russian war so that variable is going to surge to god knows what.


Great.

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Cyburn2
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PostRe: The Money Thread...
by Cyburn2 » Wed May 25, 2022 8:50 pm

Thinking of opening a vanguard account, which ISA/ETF would you recommend?

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Curls
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PostRe: The Money Thread...
by Curls » Wed Aug 03, 2022 3:34 pm

So has anyone considered this ? You'd need to be in a stable financial situation to do it with good cash flow. IT's probably taboo by the banks but it's something I've been trying but can't get hold of a loan.

Before I go any further, please understand it's just my brainstorming, and you have to be really savvy financially and understand the ins and outs of loans to benefit from it, you'd also have to be in a pretty secure place to be able to afford the risk!

It's the LOAN/ISA trick.

The basis is - interest rates are currently going up, savings accounts rates are going up to match.
Loan interest rates are currently still quite LOW.

Apply for a 25 K loan at the lowest rate for the longest term possible. Currently the best deal is a loan of £25,000 for about 2.8% with a length of 5-7 years. We'll work on 5 for convenience.

If accepted at the best rate(2.8%) it would cost you this much to pay back over 5 years. In monthly sums. From Money saving expert.

'In total, over the 60 months of your loan, you'll repay £26,819
£1,819 in interest
£446** in monthly repayments'

**
That's the reason you need to be stable, you need to be able to afford the 446 per month going out. You could hold that back (or 6 months worth) from your original cash sum to compensate.



Now here's the fun bit, when you get the 25 K, you immediately put that 25K into the best cash ISA. Make sure it is an ISA as you don't wanna pay TAX.
The top one year fixed cash ISA right now pays 2.2%. The top 3 year fixed pays 2.7%.

Here is what you'd earn over them years if interest were compounded annually(normally its monthly or less, annually is worse so I'm being conservative).

At 2.2% * - Future investment value 5 years
£27,873.69
Total interest earned
£2,873.69 AKA a grand more than you pay back.

At 2.7 % -Future investment value 5 years
£28,562.24 AKA 1.8K more than you pay back
Total interest earned
£3,562.24

*How can interest of 2.2% beat the interest of 2.8% on the loan.....because you pay back the loan in increments. You are getting interest of 2.2% of 25K plus for the entire 5 years. After 2.5 years with the loan, you'll only be paying interest on 12-13K of 2.8% so this amount will be lower. The longer the loan term, the more you can use this to your advantage.


But here's the thing. The base rate is currently going UP, so in a years time ISA accounts could well have an even higher value. We could see the base rate go up 0.25% every review, in a years time these savings accounts may be giving 5% interest. (Note this is from my own studying, its not guaranteed).

And if they don't go up? Pay back the loan early.

So yes, thats just me doing some financial fun rather than work. Sadly as I'm a dodgy bloke who's used loans to huge benefit in the past, I am not allowed to do it. But I thought I'd share in case anyone is good enough with money to trust themselves to do something like this.

I thought about this far more than needed considering I can't get a loan, and thought about lots of the WHAT IF's as well so if anyone genuinely considered doing it, and was accepted for the loan, feel free to PM me.

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Oblomov Boblomov
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PostRe: The Money Thread...
by Oblomov Boblomov » Wed Aug 03, 2022 4:26 pm

I think this is a form of stoozing.

The main issue is that you have to basically take on monthly payments similar to if you had a small mortgage for five years :lol: who's got £5k going disposable each year and thinks it's worth sacrificing that spending power for five years of your life to come out the other end of it with maybe an extra £2k?

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